MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) is known in which minute electric parts and machine parts are integrated. The MEMS is exemplified by a micro-machine, a pressure sensor, an ultra-compact motor, and so on. A semiconductor device is known which is manufactured by laminating LSIs (Large Scale Integration) formed on a semiconductor wafer. Such a semiconductor device can reduce increase of leakage current, and a signal delay due to an interconnection, for example.
Room-temperature bonding is known in which wafer surfaces are activated in a vacuum ambience and brought into contact with each other, so as to perform bonding of the wafers. Such room-temperature bonding is preferable for making the MEMS and is preferable for making the semiconductor device. The MEMS and the semiconductor device are requested be manufactured in an increased productivity and price reduction and be manufactured from large-diameter semiconductor wafers. For this reason, a room-temperature bonding apparatus is desired which can more appropriately perform room-temperature bonding of large-diameter semiconductor wafers.
A room-temperature bonding apparatus which can perform room-temperature bonding of larger substrates, tends to be larger in size. The room-temperature bonding apparatus is desired which can perform room-temperature bonding of large substrates and which is more compact.
Japanese Patent No. 2791429 discloses a silicon wafer bonding method in which a resultant substrate has great bonding strength and which does not require pressing with a load and heating treatment. The silicon wafer bonding method is a method of bonding a silicon wafer and a silicon wafer, and is characterized in that bonding surfaces of the silicon wafers are irradiated with an inert gas ion beam or an inert gas fast atom beam in a room-temperature vacuum ambience prior to the bonding for sputter etching.
Japanese Patent Publication (JP 2009-49081A) discloses a room-temperature bonding apparatus which can prevent electrode surface oxidation for stabilization. The bonding apparatus bonds a plurality of electrode surfaces formed on two wafers. The bonding apparatus has a planarization unit for planarizing the electrode surfaces, an activation unit for activating the planarized electrode surfaces, an alignment unit for performing alignment of the electrode surfaces, an overlap unit for making the aligned electrode surfaces overlap each other, a pressurization unit for pressurizing the overlapped two wafers, and a conveyer unit for conveying the wafer to at least one of the planarization unit, the activation unit, the alignment unit, the overlap unit, and the pressurization unit.
Japanese Patent No. 3970304 discloses a room-temperature bonding apparatus for performing room-temperature bonding. The room-temperature bonding apparatus has a bonding chamber which generates a vacuum ambience for performing room-temperature bonding of an upper substrate and a lower substrate, an upper stage which is located inside the bonding chamber and supports the upper substrate in the vacuum ambience, a carriage which is located inside the bonding chamber and supports the lower substrate in the vacuum ambience, an elastic guide unitarily coupled to the carriage, a positioning stage which is located inside the bonding chamber and supports the elastic guide to be movable in a horizontal direction, a first mechanism which drives the elastic guide and moves the carriage in the horizontal direction, a second mechanism which moves the upper stage in an up-and-down direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction, and a carriage support which is located inside the bonding chamber and supports the carriage in a direction of the movement of the upper stage when the lower substrate and the upper substrate are subjected to pressure welding. The elastic guide supports the carriage so that the carriage does not come into contact with the carriage support when the lower substrate and the upper substrate do not come into contact with each other, and is elastically deformed so that the carriage comes into contact with the carriage support when the lower substrate and the upper substrate are pressed against each other.
Japanese Patent No. 4172806 discloses a room-temperature bonding method in which intermediate material is uniformly formed on a substrate surface, to obtain sufficient bonding strength even when pressure bonding is performed at room temperature without the necessity of heating at the time of bonding. The room-temperature bonding method, which is a method of bonding a plurality of substrates at room temperature through intermediate material, is characterized in that the room-temperature bonding method includes a step of forming the intermediate material on bonding surfaces of the substrates by performing physical sputtering for a plurality of targets, and a step of activating the bonding surfaces of the substrates through physical sputtering.